Martin Spinelli - Guest Lecture

Martin Spinelli
Radio

Background
- Virginia Tech BA in English and Media Studies
- had radio station on campus
- was curious about National Public Radio Stations (like the BBC in England but not as culturally recognised)
   - decentralised in its structure
   - low funding
   - loose federation of around 900 stations
   - the schedules were different at each station
   - they built in small cut aways - they will then place local segments within these
   - have a lot of flexibility built into them
   - a lot more opportunities to get your work heard
   - if one station doesn't want your show another one might
   - they now take shows from abroad too
   - a downside is that they have to look after themselves financially
   - the BBC is more ambitious in many ways

First experience in a professional station
- there are always obstacles - especially with institutions
- do not stop at the first no you receive
-  first full aired stories he covered were local political races
- the more you make yourself available, the more opportunities you get

Developing a practical strand and a theoretical strand of his career in Buffalo
- researching relevant historical media moments
   - tried to find other moments of technological change
- specialization in a certain field helps open more opportunities
- he started pitching news stories to national programmes
   - Pacifica Network News
   - Monitor Radio
- taking something you have access to and trying to apply it to a national angle

First experience developing programmes
- The Lannon Foundation Writers at Work Series
- The Linebreak - making use of the key speakers coming into the uni
   - funded by various sources at the university
   - 30 programmes with best-selling and innovative novelists screenwriters and poets
   - won case Gold Medal 1997
- he put all his money into studio time and satellite upload time

Marshal McLuhan
- impressionistic
- his examples are dated
- he was however extremely useful to Martin's work
- whenever you have a new media technology it seems to mirror the one it replaces
   e.g. a monastic manuscript and the Gutenberg Bible

Developing Radio Radio
- demonstrate the possibilities for a digital vernacular for radio speech - he wanted it to be engaging
- wanted the collection of content to be used for teaching
- critical thinking about analogue editing
- he edited out all of the non dialogue and the ambience then cut down the meaning of the interview
- he carves out direct speech

Roland Barthes
- processed and mediated speech
- writing degree zero - to describe what is unique in other forms of writing
   - reground the voice as a part of the body
   - Martin had been trained to cut out coughs and pauses, etc. He decided to play around with this notion.

Radio, Radio
- voice bumpers (controlled disruptions) used as framing devices - not the music but found speech to frame and contextualise the program
- being self concious and self evident about the characteristics of the production technology
- deploying digital jolts sparingly and cautiously